Bound by Enemy Minds
by Nevara Alyss
Summary: Death doesn't end the story.  Betrayal and redemption hold Shepard and Garrus within their grasps.  How will it end?  Only the puppet master knows.  The last story of the trilogy, starting with "An Empty Divide".  Strong Language, Violence, and Smut.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is the final installment of the trilogy. For those just joining the chaos, enjoy but check out "An Empty Divide" and "Indefinite Schism". **

**Disclaimer: All characters, places, and what not, are property of BioWare. I just like playing with their dolls.**

0600 Zulu 11.06.2185

Imprisoned by his own thoughts, ex-Commander Garrus Vakarian stared out of his cell watching as the human guards of the military prison ship patrolled the catwalk of his level. The steel walls reverberated with an energy of anger and hatred that seeped through the walls of his cage and tainted the barely sterile room. The waiting, oh, the waiting, that had befell him and the tedium that had marred his mind made him flashback to morbid times. His soul, long since dead, eked out of him and festered. The memories never left him. Her face, pale and ashen, streaked with red. Her hazel eyes, filled with a terror he had never seen before. It was the first time in a long time that he'd replayed for him in its entirety, the tragedy. He missed her, all of her.

He looked at his hands, still seeing the brown, dried, flakes of blood on his hands. Stained forevermore. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists holding up the pent up rage that never had a chanced to be released. Why her not him, he could have dealt with his own demise, like he would have had a real choice in the matter. She didn't deserve it, everything that she'd accomplished, everything that she'd lived through, snuffed out at the hand of one fucked up turian with a vendetta...

Winters and Dillon grabbed Nevara by the limbs and rushed her out of the room. Kaidan followed suit, yelling at them to hurry. Garrus stood there alone, gauze, tubing, medi-gel packs, and blood, god, the blood, littered the floor. His eyes followed the path of blood droplets to the door. It was still open, no one had even thought to close it after all the chaos. He could escape, but what would be the point. He couldn't leave her and the odds of him getting out alive were minute at best. He stared out of the room for a long while listening to the yelling and barking of orders that Kaidan was spewing. Winters was defiant though, words of deceased and statistical odds were laid out. He had little hope of her survival.

Kaidan was then in the doorway staring in at Garrus. His face blank and his eyes moist. Garrus couldn't look at him. His ire fueled by the monitors droning tone.

"It doesn't look good." Kaidan finally said looking around the room. Never making eye contact with Garrus.

"Well, you have to do something. You can't just let her die." Garrus yelled.

"Don't you tell me how to do things. I've got one idea left and if that fails, well, I don't know. She's not invincible." Kaidan answered back, folding his arms across his chest.

"Care to explain." Garrus asked, holding little hope to whatever life Nevara would have, if any.

"No, I don't." Kaidan snapped. He sighed looking one last time around the room before looking Garrus in the eyes. "Clean this up. The blood will start to stink."

Garrus was thrown aback by the order. He looked at the floor again and huffed out his acceptance to Kaidan. He turned his back to Kaidan, hoping that in some way he'd attack, ending the pain that he felt. His response was the door closing and locking. Garrus closed his eyes, trying to wash away the scene of Nevara lying there dying in his arms. Her smile remained, in her last moments. So strong till the bitter end.

He fell to his knees, never taking his eyes off the pooled coagulating blood. His hands searched along the floor for the wrappers and packets that laid in overwhelming abundance across the room. They were everywhere, just thrown aside once opened. He crawled along the floor, crumpling the wads in his fist. It was a slow process, never paying attention to the direction that he was going over finding nothing for a long while. He couldn't stop staring, replaying her last moments.

Finally, he stood up and walked over to the table and threw all the trash atop it. Where else was he going to put it. His last dreadful task was to clean up the mess of blood on the floor. There was nothing to sop it up. Scanning the floor again, he found her tank top, crumpled up under the foot of the bed. He shook his head and picked it up. Smelling her scent all over it, he shuttered. He missed her already, doubt and dread filled him. He couldn't use that to clean what was left of her up. He looked at the tattered white cloth, rubbing his fingers along the threads.

He ripped the tattered rag in half and pocketed a portion of it. A memento if you will. Taking the other scraps he swirled the material through the purplish puddle. Absorbing it to capacity, the once white shirt was a deep, dark red. It was heavy and stained his talons seeping into the crevices of his skin. His body ached as he choked back harsh breath each time the cloth splattered the blood. It splashed his arms and clothing with speckles. He sighed and shook his head, realizing that he couldn't clean it all, what little he had done was made worse by his feeble attempt to erase the prior events.

In a fit of anger, he threw the rag against the wall and watched it fall to the floor with a sloppy thud. The distorted staining left on the wall stared back at him brightly. He rose to his feet looking at his hands. They were caked in red and brown. He sat on the bed and put his head in his hands. He shivered and shuttered waiting and hoping that everything would possibly be alright.

Minutes turned to hours and Garrus's stomach growled with anger from its emptiness. Time didn't exist within the four walls of the confining room. The sound of the door opening made him jump with a start. He looked up shocked by Liliandaz standing in the doorway leaning on crutches. He hobbled into the room and cleared his throat and waited for the words to come to him. Garrus jumped from the bed and beckoned Liliandaz to sit. He was hurried and rushed waiting for the news he'd waited so long to hear.

"How is she?" Garrus asked, breathy and overtly concerned.

Liliandaz's head dropped and he shook his head with grief. Garrus's heart stopped. _It couldn't be, she can't be._

"I'm sorry, Commander." Liliandaz finally answered.

"I want to see her." Garrus yelped, starting towards the door.

Liliandaz grabbed Garrus by the arm and shook his head. His eyes were a solid green and piercing. "You can't."

"Why the hell not?" Garrus asked, his breathing shallow and his eyes darted from Liliandaz to the door and back again.

"It's not going to change anything." Liliandaz answered in a cold tone.

"Damn it, let me go." Garrus yelled, pulling his arm out of Liliandaz's grip. "Don't I deserve a chance to say good-bye? Can't I at least have that much?"

"No. I can't let you do that. If you go in there, we'll both be dead." Liliandaz stated.

"So? It's better than being locked up in here with no idea as to what is going to happen next." Garrus sulked.

"I know what you're going through, Garrus."

"You have no idea what I'm going through." Garrus snapped, turning away from Liliandaz and kicking over the table.

"I do. Trust me. I was in your shoes eighteen months ago. I lost someone I loved right before my eyes." Liliandaz started. Garrus turned around shocked at the confession. "Just after I was called back to active duty I was a doctor. Seems harmless, right? I had a girlfriend. She was human. We met on the Citadel sometime before the war broke out." He stopped and looked at Garrus. His mouth gaped open and he blinked heavily. Liliandaz cleared his throat to continue. "She was a marine, too. Did recon and what not. I was stationed here as a doctor of course. I hadn't seen her since the fighting broke out. Six months had passed when word had gotten round that one of the patrols had captured some recon scouts near the compound and that they were to be executed at dawn. I had no idea it was her unit. They called me out to the courtyard to call time of death. I stood there as they marched the four man unit out and stood them in a line in front of the firing squad." He paused again, collecting his thoughts for a moment, not wanting to continue to the inevitable.

"What happened?" Garrus asked, breaking the silence that had held both of them. Liliandaz blew a steady stream of air and coughed again, trying to urge himself forward.

"I saw her and she saw me in the same moment. I could read her expression from across the yard. She was scared but defiant. Angry, but reserved. I couldn't do anything. If I had attempted anything my own death would be upon us. They lined them up. Shoulder to shoulder as your predecessor gave the final orders and counted down. They killed her, Garrus. Quickly, but dead nonetheless. I checked each of them for any signs of life, but there was nothing. It was my fault and I keep that thought with me all the time. Your human reminded me of her. Strong, stubborn, beautiful. I envied you."

"Nevara is-was something." Garrus stopped feeling ill at the prospect of speaking of her in the past tense. "I'm sorry, Liliandaz."

"I tried, Garrus. I wanted to at least try to save yours to make amends for failing mine." Liliandaz murmured before hobbling back to the door. "I need to get back to my room before Nihlus has a conniption fit."

Garrus snickered as Liliandaz walked back to his room. Ashley walked in, sullen for the first time since they met. "Well, be leaving in an hour."

He nodded, realizing the gravity of the situation. "I'll be ready to go." He answered back.

"I don't condone what you did. Feel remorse, or guilt, or whatever you need to, because in all actuality, this is both of your faults that got her killed." Ashley grumbled before walking away.

Now he stood within the small confines of his personal hell. His prison jumpsuit itched as he leaned up against the wall watching people pass by. A guard would pass and look in, shaking his head all the while.

They taunted him incessantly, saying things about execution and how they wish that they could be there for it. The idea of execution was unnerving to say the least, but he had accepted his fate with open arms and a realization that he'd probably be better off. He was already dead and had been for the last five months.

One of the guards had finally stopped in front of Garrus's cell and smiled.

"Tomorrow's the trial. I hope you burn in hell. All of you bastards are going to burn." He snarled before chuckling away from Garrus.

Garrus shrugged slightly and sat on his rack waiting for time to go by. There was nothing there for him. Crappy food, no real company, no outside. There was nothing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tattered white cloth that he'd held onto so dearly on the way home.

The only time that he saw Shepard after her death was when they were loading her on to the shuttle along with the rest of the prisoners. Kaidan had let him look out of spite, but Garrus didn't care, he wasn't in the mood to play games; he just had to see her one last time. Beautiful even in death, his heart beat faster and faster. You couldn't tell that she was dead. She was naturally very pale, but if no one had told him that she was dead he would be sure that she was asleep.

He sniffed the fabric, that faintly, even after all this time had still retained her scent. She had never died to him, not in spirit. As long as he held on to her, she was very much alive, just couldn't be by her side anymore, not yet anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

0200 Zulu 12.06.2185

Garrus laid in bed facing the wall, unable to sleep. His mind raced with thoughts and doubts. The day of reckoning was at hand. He'd be there to face his many counts of treason and war crimes alone. His former co-conspirators had taken plea agreements except Liliandaz, he'd been given pardon for turning the galactic version of state's witness and was granted immunity.

The cell was cold and the flat mat he slept on drew away what little body heat he had away from him. He shook violently, trying to warm himself. The guards had messed with his environmental controls one too many times since he'd been incarcerated. He could hear from the outside the sound of boots on metal come close and stop in front of his cell door. He looked over his shoulder, waiting for whoever was at the door to walk passed.

"Unlock cell 325." One of the guards had shouted.

Garrus sat up edging his way to the edge of the bed. He dared not stand up because the guards would consider him a threat and attack. They had done it several times before to mark the point that they were in charge. His door screeched open and in walked Kaidan. Garrus sat for a moment dumbfounded by the fact that his enemy was standing there.

Kaidan turned to the guard and spoke in a serious tone, "That'll be all. I can handle him myself."

Garrus snorted his disapproval as the guard shut the door behind him.

"Well isn't this just peachy." Garrus grumbled under his breath.

"Nice to see you too, Garrus." Kaidan snapped back. "I thought that I would give you a heads up about the trial."

"What about it? Four counts of treason and other overly problematic charges? What could you possibly help me with? I don't have a lawyer and I don't need one." Garrus quipped standing up and walking to the farthest corner of the room.

"I'm not your lawyer. I thought I would give you some friendly advice." Kaidan chirped.

"First off, we're not friends. There isn't a snowball's chance in hell of that. Two, whatever advice you have, you can take it and shove it."

"Oh, please, we'd never be friends. You're too much of a stubborn, stuck up jackass. I don't know why Shepard picked you. Of all people, alien or otherwise, why you?" Kaidan asked, balling his hands into fists.

"Ah, are we jealous? Look I don't know why me. Why don't you go ask her. Oh, that's right, she's dead because of you and what you let Nihlus do." Garrus yelled.

Kaidan raised an eyebrow and stood there. The thin line across his face drew up into an evil smile. Garrus cocked his head, curious as to why Kaidan would be so devious about his late friend.

"If only you knew, Garrus, if only you knew." Kaidan smirked. He knocked on the door and called to the guard. As the door slid open Kaidan turned back to him and said. "Plead guilty."

Garrus glared at Kaidan for a long moment before spurting, "I had planned on it, anyways."

"Good to hear it." Kaidan responded as the door closed between them.

Garrus bolted for the door wanting to grab the weaselly bastard by the scruff and toss him around for desecrating Nevara's good memory. His good memories, indelibly linked to his subconscious. Kaidan had no idea what Nevara had done for everyone she'd come into contact with. Some survived, some died, Nevara played God when in the field. She had no time for bullshit. If you slowed her, she'd stop you permanently. Gaeto proved that when she executed him.

He sat back on the bed, irate and agitated about court. There was no news from his government or the military. The Resistance had black balled him and he was now the fall guy for all the fuck ups on all sides.

He shut his eyes tightly, trying to calm the violence building up. He knew what court was and how to deal with it. He'd done it so many times before when working for C-Sec. He just never was on the defendant's side of the room before. Plus, this was very large scale, so much so, that the council was acting as judges to preside over the whole case. His fate was in their hands, but knowing how the Turian government had all the evidence against him along with the Systems Alliance with their own stack of charges, it was going to be an impossible fight. One which he wasn't going to fight.

"Damn it,Vakarian, quit being a pussy and face your problems head on. So what if things look bad, it could be worse." A voice spoke out from the door.

"Really? How much worse could it possibly be?" Garrus muttered.

"Look at me, Garrus." The voice spoke in a near whisper.

"You're not real." Garrus growled, as he opened his eyes.

"I'm as real as you need me to be." The soft voice said, closer to him than before.

"No. This isn't right. My mind is fucking with me again." Garrus stated, looking in the direction of the voice now.

There he met those very soft hazel eyes staring back at him. They were cold and empty. Dead. He was so fixated on them. Those eyes, still beautiful and yet so horrific to him. He scanned the sallow face. Her lips blue with dried blood streaking down the corners of her mouth.

"You're mind isn't fucking with you, Garrus. Let's just call it, a manifestation of you're true self." Nevara said.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Garrus mumbled.

"Have you really dealt with anything?"

"Like what? You're dead. So? You're not the first person that I've met who's died."  
"I'm not just talking about that. You're guilty. You have guilt. About a lot of things."

"No, I don't." Garrus spat.

"Throw on top of all that the denial your going through."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"You watched her die in your arms. There wasn't anything you could do about it. The amount of helplessness that you felt is understandable."

"Bullshit."

"It's not bullshit. Who did she have to mourn her? No one. You can't even admit to yourself that you lo-"

"I didn't."

"You did. Why can't you just admit it? It's not that hard. You lo-"

"I fucking didn't!" Garrus yelped.

"Fine, fine. Lie to yourself all you want. You know she wouldn't accept this from you."

"Alright. I get it."

"I don't think that you do."

"What else is there? It's my fault that I got her involved in all of this. If I hadn't met her and asked her to join me, then probably she wouldn't be dead."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Isn't that what you want to hear?"

"Why do you continue to lie to yourself? How many times did you tell her that you wouldn't change anything? That things happened for a reason."

"I know I said that. But I never meant for her to be shot dead. I was happy with what we had. She made me happy. I do mourn her every fucking waking moment I have."

"Then why do you beat yourself up over it?"

"I don't know. Does it really matter? I'd rather not deal with it."

"Because that's not what she'd want you to do. You of all people should know that. She wouldn't want you to go down as a martyr."

"I'm not. What else is there left for me to do? I'm alone on this front and I'm being attacked on all sides."

"Seems familiar, doesn't it?"

"It does."

"Sure, you've been fighting yourself and everyone else for so long and then one person comes along and shatters all your defenses in one fell swoop."

"So its her fault?"

"No. She didn't die alone. She knew what she was getting into long before joining up with you. Death is part of the job and she was living on borrowed time."

"I don't get it."

"You had been reading her reports since Helyme. You saw all the missions she did. They were practically suicide missions. At any moment she could have died. Yet, she took the missions gladly. Why is that?"  
"I don't know."

"She didn't think she'd ever see you again."

"So?"

"You made her feel something and then you were gone. She was already dead in her mind, her body just needed time to catch up."

"So it's my fault?"

"Not in the way that you think. Everything happens for a reason. She wasn't alone and she took the mission fully knowing that it could be her last."

"How is it my fault then?"

"It's not."  
"But you just said-"

"No, you just said it. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't your fault. It just happened. There wasn't anything that you could do about it."

Garrus stopped and stood for a moment looking down at the small woman looking up at him. Still as dead as the last time he'd seen her. He paced, never taking his eyes off of her. He couldn't. The logic didn't make sense. He'd been spinning himself in circles and couldn't find the end to it.

"What am I supposed to do then?" Garrus asked.

Nevara stood up, still dripping blood from her gunshot wound. She brushed his mandible and smiled. She wasn't really there, but she felt so real. Her touch ice cold. Her scent strong and heavy.

"You know what to do and you know what she would want you to do."

"Go down fighting."  
"And forgive yourself if its any consolation."  
"It's really not."

"Just remember this-" Nevara paused making her point more dire.

"Remember what?" Garrus asked. He wanted the answer so bad he yelled his question.

"She already kn-" Nevara started.

"Hey! Keep it down in there, Vakarian! Or you'll get some more of that preferential treatment again." The guard yelled back as he banged on the door.

Garrus looked at the door startled. When he looked back towards Nevara, she was gone. There was nothing. No feeling, no smell, nothing. She was gone, again. Left him alone in twisted and perverted prison of a mind. It was torture unendurable.

"A manifestation of my true self? Yeah, right. It was just a trip off the deep end." Garrus grumbled to himself, ashamed of the argument that he'd had.

He sat on the bed, frustrated, tired. He knew she- _he_ was right. There was no kind way to go through what he was going through. He'd just have to suck it up and face it, alone. There was nothing to forgive; he'd tortured himself over and over again.

"Guard! I want to talk to Kaidan Alenko." He called.

The guard slid the slot open and stared at Garrus for a moment. "Why?"

"I just do. Could you get him for me? Consider it the last wish of a dead man."

The guard smiled and nodded. "That's a relatively easy last request."

The guard slid the slot shut and walked away. A new found determination filled Garrus. He had to talk to someone, and Kaidan was the only one who reached out to him.

Kaidan came to the door and stepped in. He looked at Garrus perplexed as to why he was being beckoned. Garrus looked at him a strange smirk grew across his face, flashing his sharp, pointed teeth.

"I'm glad you came, Kaidan." Garrus hissed.

"What did you want, Garrus?" Kaidan asked, stretching what little sleep he'd had in his muscles away.

"Isn't it funny that I knew you were still here?" Garrus smirked.

"The thought crossed my mind, yes. But that does beg the question of what the hell do you want." Kaidan snapped.

"You're hiding something from me. What is it?" Garrus inquired.

"Nothing."

"You're lying."

Kaidan gasped at the implication and took a step back. "How do you know?"

"Look at you, Kaidan. I've never asked to talk to you, and the night before the trial, you come to see me? What's going on in that little human mind of yours? There's something there that you haven't told anyone. What is it?"

"Why are you questioning me?" Kaidan barked.

"Why the hell not? What have I got to lose?" Garrus smirked realizing that he'd hit a nerve. "Obviously, there's something on your mind that you haven't told anyone."

Kaidan sighed and pulled from his jacket pocket a datapad. Garrus eyed the unit with glee. He'd struck gold.

"I never gave this to Internal Affairs or the turian military. I couldn't." Kaidan choked out.

"Why? What is it?" Garrus asked, never taking his eyes off the datapad.

"It's a message for you. She wrote it the last night before she took the mission to Aeia. I found it in her desk. There wasn't much else there."

"What's it say?" Garrus chirped, excited by the new find.

"I haven't read it. I don't want to know what's on it."  
"Can I see it?" Garrus asked, extending his hand.

Kaidan hesitated and slowly handed it to Garrus, who snatched it quickly and pushed the button.

_ Commander Vakarian:_

_ I don't know if this message will ever get to you, but I haven't stopped thinking about you and us and everything in between. I hope we can see eachother again soon. I really don't know what to put in this damn thing. There's so much to say and not so many ways to put it. I really don't want this falling into the wrong hands, but if for some reason, I can't give this to you in person just know that I cared and want you to take care of yourself. I found a quote that reminded me of you while I was reading. "The noir hero is a knight in blood caked armor. He's dirty and he does his best to deny the fact that he's a hero the whole time." _

_ I better be off though, I have a mission briefing to get to. All hush-hush and top secret. _

_ Lt. Commander Nevara A. Shepard._

"She never stopped thinking of you. She changed a lot in the last year. She stopped letting people get close and I had wondered why, but now I know. She'd held out hope for you." Kaidan sulked.

"Why didn't you turn it in?" Garrus asked.

"And desecrate the woman she was more now than ever. No. She's going to be muckraked enough once the trial starts."

"Thank you, Kaidan." Garrus purred.

"This doesn't mean that we're friends." Kaidan spat.

"Of course not. But thank you anyway."

Kaidan turned to walk out of the cell and hesitated. He turned back and held out his hand.

"I need that back."

Garrus stopped and looked at Kaidan with so much contempt that he was angry. "But."

"No but. You know the rules."

"Fuck your rules." Garrus growled.

"Garrus-" Kaidan took an offensive stance.

"Just let me have this." Garrus pleaded.

"No. You've had more than enough of her."

"You hurt her more than I ever could." Garrus grew cold and rigid.

"I know. I was out of line."  
"You damn right you were. You owe me and her."

"I don't owe you anything. Don't make me call the guards in here."

Garrus hesitated and looked at the datapad for a long time. It hurt so much to have to let it go. He handed it to Kaidan, his shoulders slumping forward. Kaidan took the pad and snapped it over his knee. Garrus shocked, his eyes large jumped at Kaidan.

"Don't." Kaidan ordered as he backed his way towards the door.


	3. Chapter 3

0600 Zulu 12.06.2185

_ "Noir knight? Blood caked armor? Hero?" _The words made no sense to him. Why had she written those things about him? To him? Why hadn't she just said them? How could she see him like that? They hadn't met on the best of terms, and yet she had described him as no one had ever done before. His illusions became delusions of ecstasy. Sorrow. Regret. How could he, a turian, let emotions, feelings, yearnings and desires cloud his judgment?

That small, lithe human that once shared a bed with him gone. Perished. Garrus sat up in bed. His head throbbed, never opening his eyes. Her smiling face. Their bodies intertwined. _Oh the memories._ His pep talk in the early morning hours, didn't help the oncoming dread that threw itself at him.

Sleep had evaded him all night. His body was physically ill. Each muscle screamed its displeasure at any movement. Garrus stretched slightly trying to shake off his self-loathing. The sudden pang of hunger filled him. His thoughts danced sporadically and reality was but a dream.

The sudden shock of a banging on his cell door, jolted him, sending him to standing in defense. There was a long pause, followed by even more banging in a faster, more urgent rhythm.

"Yes?" Garrus asked looking at the door.

"Are you decent?" Kaidan's voice called from the other side.

"What do you want?" Garrus asked, his voice growing instantly like ice.

"We need to talk." Kaidan answered.

"About?" Garrus hissed.

"Look, can I come in? I'd rather not do this out here." Kaidan beckoned.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? It's not like my day can get any better." Garrus smirked with dread.

Kaidan walked in to the room. His class A's fit him well. Garrus looked him over. The man himself had gotten little if any sleep either. For that he was glad. Whatever punishment this trial was putting on him wasn't near what he wanted to do to him.

Garrus crossed his arms and eyed Kaidan for a long while suspiciously. Kaidan didn't know what to say. He didn't know where to begin. The silence left an overly deafening void in Garrus' ears. He couldn't stand it anymore. His blood began to boil and he felt pressure in his ears, making them ring ever so slightly.

"Well?" Garrus finally asked.

Kaidan didn't answer. He looked perplexed. Concerned by the situation he'd gotten himself into. More silence and the saddest look finally crossed Kaidan's face. That cold demeanor that he'd carried into the room. The lack of remorse that he'd shown on Aeia, those were gone. Garrus was beside himself. Whatever Kaidan had to say, he didn't want to. That was for certain.

"I need to know something." Kaidan started looking Garrus in the eyes.

"What do you want to know?" Garrus snapped.

"Damn it. I thought this was going to be easier." Kaidan sighed as he started to pace the room.

"What? Obviously something's eating you enough to make you come here. I'm sure that whatever you have to say can wait." Garrus grumbled.

"I know. Just let me get some facts straight here. Alright. Just humor me." Kaidan spat.

"I'm not in the mood to be interrogated. I'll get plenty of that later. If you would excuse me." Garrus urged, pointing at the door.

"Did you love her?" Kaidan finally asked under his breath.

"I'm sorry, what?" Garrus' jaw dropped.

"Did you love her?" Kaidan repeated with more strength.

"Why?"

"Just tell me."

"Why is it any of your business?"

"It is my business. She was my commanding officer. My best friend. I loved her. You corrupted her. She had a job to do, and all you could do was worry about your own interests."

"Really?" Garrus scoffed. "You loved her? It sure as hell didn't look like you did. You were there, demeaning her. Raping her psychologically. And you call that love?"

"Evidence gathering. I needed proof." Kaidan acknowledged.

"Evidence gathering? You made her strip and you perpetrated your acts on her. You touched her. Violated her." Garrus yelled.

"Does it really matter? She was tainted by you." Kaidan argued.

Garrus fumed. He couldn't control it. Finally, he lunged blinded by a fury he hadn't felt before. Before Kaidan could do anything, he was flung against a wall, pinned by the hulking turian glaring down at him. His outstretched arms holding each of his shoulders nailed to the door, talons digging into each shoulder blade. The sound of fabric tearing and Kaidan's grunt made Garrus stop. He would of snapped the small man in half if he had the good sense, but then he would have been no better than Nihlus. _An eye for an eye. Co-conspirators._

Kaidan grimaced for a second. Shocked by his own stupidity at how nimble the turian was. He thrashed quickly kneeing Garrus in the gut. A hot rapid gush of air escaped Garrus as he dropped Kaidan, trying to regain his breath. They looked at each other. The two of them panting for a moment before the evil glares began again.

"I did feel sorry for you, Garrus, but now. I don't know what I feel. I hope you rot in hell." Kaidan spoke sternly.

"Oh, please. Like your damn opinion means anything." Garrus spat turning away from Kaidan.

"Just get ready. You have five minutes before arraignment. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised by the sheer number of spectators that will be there to watch as you are traipsed around as the violent war criminal you are." Kaidan snipped with a cold glare.

"What do you know about me?" Garrus grumbled.

"In the last few minutes: everything I have ever needed to." Kaidan stated turning to leave. He stopped for a minute and turned back around and cleared his throat. "Oh, and I'll be taking you so you better be on your best behavior."

"If you are the one taking me then, maybe you should change." Garrus sneered.

Kaidan shook his head when he realized that the slight damp feeling of blood streaking down in the inside of his clothes. He nodded resentfully and walked out of the cell.

It was a half halfhearted win for Garrus. _More evidence gathering_. Why Kaidan was assigned to take him made no sense. He was working for the prosecution, and was a witness to both Shepard's and his rendez-vous. _Those sweet and wonderful trespasses. _For whatever reason, they might as well just set him in front of the firing squad. No asari mediators, no Council, no media. Something quick and painless. Whatever the Alliance and the Primarchs thought would be good made perfect sense. Maybe hung till dead.

He shook his head and donned what ever it was that he could to make himself presentable. There wasn't much. A jump suit and boots. Like he was already guilty of his crimes. _Pft. _At the very least, they should have given him something to look inconspicuous, but as Kaidan had said. He was going to be a show horse for every one. The slings and arrows for every one to point at as a target for all their hatred and fear.

He undressed. The ice cold air kissed his cold skin. Looking down at himself, the long trail of lies and deceit were felt across the many plates of his chest. Even the small scar that his Shepard stood out. She had done well, given the circumstances. To him, though, it was a scar worth having. He slowly changed. The over starched frock of an item fell coarsely over him and the boots were a size too big. _What am I a clown?_ His last thought before resuming the resentful position that he'd taken so many times before was to that little scrap of cloth that he'd toted with him since their end. He grabbed it quickly, rubbing it between his fingers. Small threads frayed and fell to the floor. Bravery to the very end, was the last thing he saw in her before she was no more. He shoved it in his pocket and waited for Kaidan's inevitable return.

Sure enough, he did come again. This time he was not alone. He didn't knock, he just stood there, three guards there looking at him. He didn't care, he didn't want to. Just another sideshow freak was how he felt.

Garrus sighed and stood.

"Let's just get this over with."

Two guards walked in and shackled Garrus across the wrists and ankles. His cuffed wrists bound to the tungsten chain strapped around his waist. While the guards worked at securing him, Garrus looked at Kaidan. His expression was blank, and he never made contact with him. He seemed almost like he was lost in the cold hard reality that was this prison cell. That his own decisions could have had him laid out in a cell of the very same sort.

When the final click of metal and the final links of chain were bound, the guards left the room with Garrus still standing there. Kaidan looked at Garrus for a long time. Whatever he had to say, he couldn't force himself to do. Kaidan sighed and waved Garrus over. Garrus paused for a moment and stared. He thought he knew what was racing through his mind, but he could have very well been mistaken. Was it remorse? He wasn't able to tell too well. It was hard for him to get a read on Kaidan. His demeanor flip-flopped so often that if there was a compass to be had for the man, it would just spin.

Kaidan waved him again, straightening himself. Garrus followed, resistant to whatever Kaidan had to say. Honestly, what were his options. The "convicted" man being led around like a dog to his not so adoring audience. Garrus chuckled. _At least it'll be a somewhat interesting event._

As he approached Kaidan glanced down the walkway and back at Garrus. A small spark of light danced behind his eyes. It sent a cold shiver down Garrus' spine. Kaidan grabbed his arm and jerked him out of the cell, shoving him in front of him.

"Are you ready?" Kaidan asked, with little care in his voice.

"Do I have a choice?" Garrus answered, as he started walking.

"Not really. I just thought I'd ask." Kaidan snickered.

"You feel pretty good about yourself. Don't you?"

"No." Kaidan answered back, his voice low.

"Shocker." Garrus snorted.

"I'm sorry, Garrus. I had my orders." Kaidan started.

"We don't need to go over this again. And it isn't me you should be apologizing to." Garrus snapped.

"You're right." Kaidan agreed.

They walked in silence. Garrus' long strides had Kaidan at a near jog.

"Would you slow down? What is your damn rush?" Kaidan asked, slightly out of breath.

"I would rather just get this damn spectacle over with, if you don't mind." Garrus answered, finally stopping to let Kaidan catch up. "You know Nevara could keep up."

"I'm sure she could." Kaidan smirked. "She wasn't someone to let anybody get ahead of her."

"Stubborn woman."

"That she was." Kaidan agreed.

Both were smiling and when they realized it, they both dropped their amusement and continued walking. No harsh words, but fond memories. It felt good to both of them in an awkward way to reminisce about her.

Hallways and foyers were passed with little comment. They were relatively empty, except for the random guard that would stop and gawk as Garrus walked by. They eyed the two men with daggers. They shouldn't of had anything against Kaidan, he was probably known to be a hero to many right now, but the hollow looks and glances made Garrus suspicious again.

Kaidan led Garrus to a set of double doors and stopped.

"Look, I'll be right back. I need to tell them that we're here."

"It's not like I can go anywhere." Garrus smirked lifting his shackled hands as far he could.

"There is one thing though."

"What?" Garrus asked.

"You never answered my question." Kaidan said.

"You never asked one?" Garrus said, confused.

"Earlier this morning. Remember?"

Garrus stopped and tried to think back. Kaidan had only asked a few questions."

"I thought I did."

"Don't. Just don't." Kaidan snapped. "You know damn well what I'm talking about."  
"No, no I don't think I do."

"Did you love her?" Kaidan asked again.

"I- I..." Garrus stammered.

"I want an answer." Kaidan gruffly demanded.

"Um. No lies? Well, I... hmm..." Garrus trailed off.

"It's relatively simple. Did you or didn't you?"

"You want me to say it right here? In front of witnesses?"

"Yes. Right here, right now."

"Love? That's a strong word."

"For a strong woman."

"Agreed."

"So did you?" Kaidan asked again. He looked down the hallway and back at Garrus.

"Love is a human word."

"Which she was." Kaidan answered back, losing his patience with the circles they were going in.

"Well if we factor all those things into the equation, then I guess y-"

"How come every time we get together handcuffs have to be involved?" A small voice to Garrus' left asked.


	4. Chapter 4

Garrus bit his tongue and looked down at the little person standing beside him. The human or so he thought had a spit guard over her head and was looking up at him. Or at least he thought she was looking up at him. He couldn't tell, but he thought whoever it was was making a bad joke and he looked at Kaidan. He was confused and had no idea of what was going on. Kaidan smiled a devilish smile and pointed back at the woman. The guard on the woman's left pulled off the mask and a feather like mass of red hair fell out.

Those soft hazel eyes he'd grown to adore sparkled up at him. Her expression was thoughtful and delighted. But there was something so very different about her. The colors that adorned her usually empty face stood out in deep colors of red, black and blue. Her hair still was short but was pulled up and twisted leaving heavy locks that framed her face. The same way she looked when she'd taken him captive on Helyme.

Still so beautiful and apparently, if his sanity hadn't snapped in that second, very much alive.

"This is a joke." Garrus sputtered. He turned back to Kaidan who was shaking his head in disapproval.

"No, Garrus. She's very much alive." Kaidan stated pointing back at Shepard.

"Well, last time I checked I was alive." Nevara answered with a smirk. "Now are you going to answer my question?"

"I just- You're- I thought-" Garrus stuttered. His thoughts raced. He was in complete disbelief. He's mourned for so long and had nearly talked himself out of the grieving process. His resignation faltered and he fell to his knees in shock.

"Hey, stay with me." Nevara spoke in shock of a turian possibly fainting in front of her. _There's a first for everything._ "Let's not get all human all at once." Nevara giggled as he pulled Garrus up.

They met each others glances and he felt at home. She even smelled the same, but there was something off about her scent. It smelled more hormonal.

Garrus looked her over. All her proportions seemed like they were before.

"Before I forget." Nevara started and turned to her guard. She slid something over her face and looked back at Garrus. The thin black rims of glasses shown brightly at him.

"You wear glasses?" Garrus asked.

"Why? What's wrong with glasses?" Nevara asked, her smile absent.

"Nothing, I thought they fixed eyesight." Garrus answered as a smile crept across his face.

"They do. I did have it fixed, but due to certain circumstances, I need the glasses." Nevara answered as matter of fact as she could.

"What circumstances?" Garrus asked.

Kaidan cleared his throat and shook his head at Nevara who nodded in agreement. Garrus didn't like the fact they were hiding something, and it seemed like a pretty enormous secret if there were precautions that had to be taken.

"So are you going to answer my question?" Nevara asked again.

"Hm?" Garrus asked lost in reality's tight grip.

"This always seems to be how things end up for us." Nevara said as she lifted her hands.

"Consider it foreplay." Garrus finally said.

"Huh?" Nevara squawked. Her jaw dropped and the small silver ball that sat in her mouth caught his eye.

"What?" Kaidan asked.

The guard turned abruptly and stared wide eyed at the turian for his indecent comment. Nevara collected herself and started laughing hysterically. It was a strange sound, but quite poetic in a comical sense.

"Oh wow!" Nevara chortled. "That's really good."

Garrus stood there as he watched the little woman grab her sides and start laughing again. The guard nudged her shoulder and put her finger to her lips. After her composure was regained she turned to the guard and whispered something to her. The guard gave her a disgusted look and shook her head.

"No, the doctor said no." The guard finally spoke in a husky feminine voice.

"Fine." Nevara snipped blowing a strand of hair out of her face.

"Doctor? Are you alright?" Garrus asked full of concern.

Nevara looked at him and her smile faded. She sighed and shook her head.

"I can't talk about it. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Nevara spoke in a less than reassuring voice.

The guard next to Nevara heard over her earpiece that they were ready to proceed. She grabbed Nevara by the arm and Kaidan grabbed Garrus'. They pushed open the large double doors and led them like a small procession through the masses while galactic news agencies reported live. It seemed like the entire Citadel was sitting in the rows of benches that lined the walkway.

Up one set of stairs and across a grand hall area stood the bench of their judges. The Councilors sat. arms folded across their chest awaiting the arrival of the guilty. To the left of them were two Primarchs, one of which was the failed assassination attempt. The other Nevara had no idea who it was, all she knew was the one who was staring her down. They wore the classiest of turian garb and stood when the partners in crime entered the room. They shook their heads in disgust and sat back down.

Garrus knew in his heart that with those two turians, things were going to end very badly, at least for him. They'd probably choose death by spacing, if that was even an option for punishment. He looked over to the right and saw Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina looking at Nevara with the utmost concern. Anderson leaned over to Udina and spoke something to him that caused him to nod and respond in like.

Everyone but him seemed to know what was wrong with her, or what the hell was going on in the first place. He looked over at Nevara, who seemed interested in her feet, sighed and worried for her. For all he knew she was just there to make the Alliance look good. The idle chatter from reporters continued as they were stopped in front of the parties that were to decide their fates. A man stood up and took his place by Nevara; who leaned over and whispered something to him. Garrus had no idea who this fool was in the sharp suit, but it didn't bode well with the way the man was looking Nevara over and smiling.

Nevara looked up at Garrus and winked at him with a glee he'd only seen a couple of times they'd actually seen each other. He nodded in the direction of the man and Nevara pointed and whispered. "Lawyer."

_Oh she gets a lawyer? I wasn't even offered one._

The asari councilor stood and raised a hand and the din of noise stopped. She looked down at the two and sighed. She cleared her throat before she started.

"We're here today for the trials of former Lieutenant Commander Nevara Adianna Shepard, former Commander Garrus Vakarian, Sergeant Nathan Winters, Staff Sergeant Patrick Tennant..." The list went on and on and Garrus tuned most of it out by daydreaming his little human mate.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" Kaidan yelled.

"Guards restrain the prisoner." The turian councilor yelled.

Three guards grabbed Kaidan and threw him to the floor. The shackled his arms and legs in irons and pulled him back up to stand next to Garrus.

The asari waited for a moment as she watched Kaidan struggle in his restraints. Finally she started again.

"Captain David Anderson."

Nevara, Garrus and Kaidan all looked at each other and then at Anderson who was being escorted to them cuffed in the back. He looked at all of them and shook his head, urging them to be still.

"And finally former Lieutenant Nihlus Kryik."

The entire group turned to watch as Nihlus was dragged in shackled and bound in his uniform. He made quite a racket as he crossed paths with Nevara. He stopped, stunned at the supposedly dead lover of his enemy.

"This is a joke right? You're supposed to be dead!" Nihlus yelled.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Nihlus." Nevara smirked as they led him on. She stuck her foot out and tripped the turian causing him stumble. He shot her a look and she waved grinning from ear to ear.

"You are going to pay for that." Nihlus grumbled.

"We'll see." Nevara spoke in a sing-song voice as Nihlus was placed beside her lawyer. She looked back at the councilor who eyed her disapprovingly.

"If you two are done." The asari spoke in a calm tone.

"Sure, sure." Nevara spoke back with a nod. Her condescension was felt by the small group of people that surrounded her. They all looked at her, even Garrus who had never seen Nevara so brazen.

"You're attitude isn't befitting an officer, Shepard." The asari spoke in an even cold voice.

"You would be right in that Councilor, but as you've said I'm a former officer, so my attitude fits me just fine." Nevara shot back defiantly. Garrus snorted his approval and nodded trying to keep his shoulders from jerking as he stifled his laughter.

"Don't be glib with me, Commander." The asari ordered.

"_Former_ commander." Nevara corrected. Kaidan eked out a giggle.

"I will have you removed from court." The turian councilor spoke out.

"You just keep chasing that rabbit down the hole." Nevara snickered.

"That's it! I'm holding you in contempt." The turian yelled.

The asari councilor raised a hands to silence the both of them. Nevara smiled with sickening glee. Her lawyer touched her shoulder and whispered in her ear. Nevara turned quickly to the lawyer and yelled, "So?"

"You have to think about-" The lawyer started.

"I _am_ thinking about it. He doesn't need to know." Nevara harshly whispered back.

"What don't I need to know?" Garrus asked. His narrowed on Nevara who looked at him almost fearful for a moment. She swallowed hard and sighed.

"I'll tell you after sentencing alright?" Nevara's voice was barely audible. "Please don't push this right now. It's the last thing we need to worry about right now."


	5. Chapter 5

As the long list of charges were laid out to the awe struck crowd, Garrus looked over at Kaidan who was in turn looking at Shepard. His body language was that of a man worried beyond belief, not about himself, but of the object of his affection. It angered Garrus; the very idea of this man, that had betrayed her was looking at her with care. He looked up at Garrus and shook his head. They stared at each other for a long while before Kaidan snapped his head back forward and took a step forward.

"Guily, Councilor." Kaidan said. He took a step back and resumed his vigil of Nevara.

"Garrus Vakarian, you have been charged with treason, war crimes, consorting with the enemy, assault, and aiding and abetting a murder suspect. How do you plead?" The turian councilor member spoke. His voice full of disgust echoed in the silent hall.

"Guilty." Garrus sulked looking over at Nevara who was staring straight ahead awaiting her turn.

"Nevara Adianna Shepard. The charges against you are grave to say the least." The asari councilor spoke. "The crimes you committed are both an insult to the Systems Alliance and the council races."

Nevara blinked once and squinted. "You aren't going to read mine? Show everyone what one person can do to cause so much trouble." Nevara grumbled.

"I was just getting to that, if you hadn't interrupted me." The asari spoke with a sigh.

Nevara crossed her arms and stood off kilter, putting her weight on her back leg. She smiled as she awaited the list of long charges.

"You are being charged with from both the Systems Alliance, Turian Hierarchy, and Council-" The turian councilor started with glee

"Woot! The tri-fecta!" Nevara giggled.

"This isn't a game." Her lawyer hissed.

"Isn't it though. Someone was going to have pay. Why not be me? The one who did the dirty work for all sides." Nevara's demeanor was harsh and cold as she looked over the faces of all the people who stood before the group.

"You are facing execution." Garrus finally mumbled.

Nevara looked at Garrus and the shimmer that was usually held tightly behind her eyes was dull. "I have worse things to deal with than my death. Don't worry about it."

Garrus scowled. How could she not tell him what was wrong. It was unlike her and the rest of the people knew more than he did. No information network not even iota an of a thought about how he was the only one who didn't know. Well except, Nihlus who was glaring at the two of them.

"You, Shepard are facing, in its entirety: war crimes, treason, attempted murder of the Primarch of my people, murder for his son, assault, attempted murder of one Dr. Liliandaz Danazix, consorting with the enemy and aiding and abetting a known fugitive." The turian glared. He waited for a moment before opening his mouth again. "How do you plead?"

"Wait!" Garrus yelled. He turned to Nevara who was now leaning on her lawyer. "You. You did it? You started all of this?"

Nevara shook her head. "I was under orders."

"Under orders? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Garrus yelled. His voice grew more shrill. He was betrayed again. Not by just anyone but his mate.

"I-" Nevara started. She stood for a moment and her pale complexion turned an ashen gray. Garrus didn't care. Not then. It was her fault, everything. She took the shot. She started the war. She ripped everything apart, destroyed countless lives, including his own.

"No. How could you not tell me this!" He closed on her. Watched as her knees started to buckle. The once proud and strong, stoic and still ever so enticing Nevara Shepard, was in fear of him. His mandibles flared at the lies. The outright lies of omission. He didn't know how could he? It was never in her file. Or was it and he was never told. It didn't matter. She lied.

"Guards restrain the prisoner!" The salarian councilor spoke.

Nevara locked eyes with his. She was trying to say something to him, but he had no idea what it was. As he watched her slowly lose herself to whatever human emotion she was feeling, he felt hands grabbing his chains and shoulders. Garrus looked and they weren't the guards, but Kaidan and Anderson. Each one was staring at the two of them.

"Calm down, Garrus." Anderson spoke. "Not now. Let's just get this done with so we can move on."

"Anderson's right." Kaidan chimed in, loosening his grip on the chain. "We'll tell you what's going on later."

"I want to know now." Garrus growled. "Why do you all know what's going on? Even the damn lawyer knows."

"Because he had to." Nevara finally answered as she adjusted her glasses. "They're hoping I'll get leniency. I doubt it though." She looked back at the councilors and sighed. "I plead guilty to all charges."

"Nihlus Kryik. You are charged with aiding and abetting, the attempted murder of your co-defendant, Nevara Shepard and war crimes. How do you plead?" The asari spoke. Her voice dull as if she was bored with the proceedings.

"It should have been murder." Nihlus snapped. "I shouldn't even be in this damn trial. I was set up."

"You and me both." Garrus finally said as he glared at Nevara. She shot him a look. It was a mix of sadness and shock. The words so stinging and venomous he thought they would kill her right there.

"I thought you were happy to get your whore back." Nihlus hissed.

Garrus shook his head and sighed. "I was."

"What is your plea?" The asari repeated.

"Guilty. I guess." Nihlus spat. "Let's just get this over with."

The three councilors looked at each other and nodded. "We did have a witness and victim, but it seems he's rescinded his agreement." The asari spoke. "You will all be meeting him tomorrow."

"Why what's tomorrow?" Nevara asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Your sentence is being carried out." The turian answered. The sneer that crept across his face made Nevara visibly ill.  
"Which is?" Garrus asked.

"It is the order of this Council after much dealing and all of the defendants' impressive military services before this incident that with the Systems Alliance and the turian Hierarchy agreed to exile instead of death." The asari spoke.

The room erupted in to yells and screams from both sides. Disapproval and hatred that bled into the group standing in the aisle.

"It's her fault kill her!" A turian jumped up and pointed at Nevara who never turned around. She closed her eyes and bit her lip. _I was just following orders._

"She needs to pay for what she did! I lost a son!" A human woman with shoulder length black hair spoke.

Garrus looked at Nevara who was rubbing her eyes and squinting. He shook his head at her with disdain and sighed. He agreed with them, wholeheartedly.

The asari, raised her hand and waited as the crowd calmed and sat again. "Because former Commander Shepard started this, they will be exiled to Akuze. No one has set foot there since the incident involving Shepard's platoon and the thresher maws."

Everyone looked at Nevara. She looked up, her eyes wide with dismay. She shook her head and she started to shake. The never ending nightmares. The deaths.

"Not there." Nevara yelped.

"This is your bed, Commander. You made it; now you sleep in it. You will be leaving tomorrow." The asari spoke again.

"But Councilor, this isn't what we agreed to." Nevara's lawyer spoke.

"Our word is final and this is how its going to be." The turian snapped.

"But with my client in her current condition-" The lawyer interjected.

"Is not the problem of this court." The turian yelled.

"It's alright." Nevara spoke in a hushed tone. "What's done is done."

"You know what this means, Nevara?" The lawyer asked, looking her over again.

"I do. I survived there once. I'll do my best to do it again. You did your job. It's over."

The lawyer nodded, reluctantly and stood back.

"We consider the matter closed. The defendants may leave the way they came. May whatever spiritual entity you pray to have mercy on your souls." The asari spoke as she and the other two councilors made their way off of the stage.

Each one of them was led one by one through the riotous mob of people. Two guards to each person. The taunts, yells and slurs reverberated in Garrus' ears. Nevara, who was behind him was muttering to herself with her lawyer by her side, trying to shield her from objects that were thrown at her.

He was wounded, scorned and ostracized all in one moment. Beside himself and alone no matter how many people were around.

As each of them were taken away in separate directions, Garrus looked back at Shepard who was looking at him. Still so beautiful and volatile and yet the very bane of his existence.

"I'm so sorry." Nevara spoke just audible enough for him to hear.

"You don't have to do that." Her lawyer snapped.

"No, I do." She bit back, never taking her eyes off of the turian.

"We'll deal with it when it comes to it, alright?" Garrus mumbled as he was being led away.

The long walk slow and diligent back to the cells was cold. The slamming of the cell door was the final extent of his despair. In the six months the sound had grown familiar. Familiar in more ways than one. His emotions, feelings all were barred in their own pens. Augmented feelings and curiosities now stood in the room. Now that everything was over and the sentence was to be carried out; what was she, Kaidan and Anderson hiding?


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Nevara's lawyer spoke in a hushed tone.

"There isn't much I can do about it, now is there?" Nevara snapped, never losing her stride. Her shuffling feet jerked her chains along the grating of the catwalk. "Look, Pierce, you tried your best. Just let it go."

"We could appeal." Pierce spoke out louder than he thought he was going to.

Nevara shook her head. Her glasses slid down her nose and her hair fell into her eyes. She came to a stop and fixed herself again. She looked over at the man who was remorseful of his failure.

She sighed and placed her hand on his shoulder and a faint smile crossed her face. "What I want to know about it what happened to my deal?"

Pierce blinked, trying to find the words to explain what had happened. There was an eerily long silence between the two of them. Impatient from a lack of answers, Nevara continued walking at a faster clip as she mulled over all the possibilities of a final return trip to Akuze. From behind her she could here the guard that was holding her belt chain clear his throat to get her attention.

She turned around and spied the abnormally large man in military fatigues. He looked down on her as if a father looking at his child. He was older and his steely gray eyes were mournful.

"What's up, Captain?" Nevara asked. Pierce stopped and looked at the haggard guard with as much concern as he had about Nevara.

The old man never said a word. He clenched his jaw and his eyes told a long diatribe of happenstances and regret.

"He's why your deal didn't go through." Pierce explained.

Nevara turned to Pierce with a disgusted look on her face and back at the guard who refused to make eye contact with her.

"Explain." Nevara snapped.

"Not here." The man finally said. His deep gravelly voice was ice cold. His shoulders were taut as he held his emotions in check.

"Whatever." Nevara mumbled back with disdain.

The remaining walk to solitary confinement was done in silence. The three person group kept a more natural pace then when they started, but the friction that was going on between them was intense. Yells from other inmates in their cells reverberated off the metallic walls and flooded Nevara's ears. The only respite that she was getting was the subtle swishing sound of her chains as she walked. She had to focus on it, but the sound reminded her of chimes in the wind.

When they reached her less than comfortable quarters, the door was already open and what little belongings she had were strewn from the door to the rails of the platform.

"What the hell is going on here?" Pierce spoke in a hurried tone. He quickened his pace and walked in the door but was pushed back out by another guard. "What is the meaning of this?"

"The unit commander gave us orders to make sure our honored guest is ready to go for tomorrow's excursion." The guard spoke with nary a care of the woman that was standing in front of them.

"I wasn't told about this." The guard spoke from behind Nevara. His voice was distressed.

"Captain Walker. It's so good to see you. We thought that you knew about the inspection today." The cocky guard spoke leaning in the door.

"Can it. I want to see these orders." Walker spat, through clenched teeth.

The guard pulled a datapad out from behind his back and tossed it to Pierce with a grin. Pierce looked it over for a long while. His eyes darted around the words and bit his lip when something didn't look right with the document. He looked over at Nevara, who crossed her arms and waited with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, what the hell does it say?" Nevara finally barked.

"This is all above your pay grade captain. This comes from the ambassador." Pierce finally said, handing the pad to Walker.

Walker skimmed it a couple of times and sighed in agreement.

"Fine. Just hurry up. Shepard would like to talk to her lawyer in confidence." Walker spoke, admitted defeat.

It wasn't a long wait as four guards pushed all of Nevara's items onto the landing and sifted through them for "contraband." When all was said and done, they left leaving her clothes and datapads broken or unusable to her.

Nevara slowly walked over to her tattered items and quickly picked them up. Many items slipped back to the floor, clattering in disagreement.

"I know I can't take it with me. But I want to enjoy my last night before I go." Nevara spoke in a matter of fact tone.

The two men picked up what was left and placed them on the cot next to the other items. Walker stood, waiting to unshackle the little woman, but she was oblivious to him. She paced back and forth meandering the ideas of what was going to happen, how she'd gotten herself into her current situation. She finally stopped when she noticed Pierce and Walker still in the cell with her.

Nevara hadn't even remembered the chains, cuffs and shackles that bound her little form. She nodded at Walker who casually walked up and started unlocking all the bits and pieces. He tossed the chains out of the cell door sending them skidding across the grating with a shrieking rattle.

"So are you going to tell me now?" Nevara finally asked the two men. Her eyes bounced from one to the other. Her arms folded against her chest again and she leaned back a little on her right leg.

The two men looked at each other and then back at her.

"The reason you didn't get the deal of just life in prison was because of that guard you killed." Pierce started.

Nevara straightened. Her body became rigid as she remembered snapping the neck of a guard and leaving three others with other sundry injuries. From broken bones to one possibly having lost his eye sight.

"Go on." Nevara's eyes narrowed as she spoke.

"Taking into consideration all of your past transgressions against the Alliance, the turians, and the Council as a whole, you are lucky. What you did was just a drop in the bucket compared to the other charges." Pierce continued.

"I thought that was going to stay an Alliance matter though?" Nevara asked.

"It was. I didn't find out that it was going to be exculpatory evidence used in your punishment until after sentencing." Pierce answered looking over at Walker.

"How did they find out?" Nevara questioned. Her arms fell to her side as she started pacing again.

"Me." Walker finally spoke.

Nevara stopped walking and looked at the stoic giant.

"You?" Nevara asked, more perplexed now than ever.

"After the incident, he was the one who filed the incident report about the attack. They had independent witnesses that said you instigated the fight and my report kind of corroborated what they were saying." Walker spoke, his voice dropping about an octave.

"_I_ was attacked. I didn't drag the little bastards in here and torture them. They came in here, under their own power and the fight was on." Nevara yelled. She balled her hands into fists and shook.

"_We _know that." Pierce interjected, trying to calm the situation.

"Then why in the fuck are they making all the others go?" Nevara yelped. Her temper never cooling.

"We don't know. Probably because they all had a hand in someway to the final destination." Pierce spoke.

"But-" Nevara started.

"We know what the deal was, that's why we'd accepted it. All charges for your co-conspirators were to be dropped or to run concurrently if you plead guilty and served life. But that's not how it's going to work, now."  
"This is bullshit." Nevara spat, turning from the two men.

"I know it is." Pierce spoke. "We're still trying to find out who gave the information to the Council in the first place. The JAG office is in an uproar and some pretty major conspiracy theories are going around."

Nevara leaned her head against the far wall and sighed. The cool metal felt nice on her flushed skin.

"I think that I need to be alone for a little bit." Nevara spoke. Her voice was barely a whisper.

"We understand." Walker spoke as he backed his way out of the door.

"Thank you, Pierce." Nevara muttered.

"I didn't do anything." Pierce answered back.

"You did more than I thought an Alliance lawyer would do. Given the circumstances." Nevara spoke. Her voice stronger than before.

"Don't worry about it." Pierce snorted. He looked at his watch and back at Nevara who had turned to lean against the wall.

"Isn't it time for my doctor's appointment?" Nevara asked. She cocked her head and looked passed Pierce to a gray haired woman who was standing behind him.

Pierce followed her gaze and turned and saw the woman with blue eyes staring back at him. He jumped a little and took a step to the side.

"I guess it is." Pierce chuckled. He took a step towards the door as the woman walked into the room.

"You don't have to go." Nevara pleaded.

"I'll come and see you in a couple of hours. I need to see Kaidan and Anderson. We need to talk about your current situation." Pierce spoke scanning the woman.

"Alright." Nevara submitted. She looked at the doctor and smiled.

"Well, Shepard. How are we feeling today?" The woman spoke taking Nevara's pulse.

"Hell of a day Doc. For both of us." Nevara answered back with a smirk.


	7. Chapter 7

Garrus leaned against the door to his cell listening to the idle chatter taking place in the next cell. He could hear Kaidan, strangely enough, talking to what he could barely make out as Nevara's lawyer. He inched closer as if almost to slither out through the paper thin crack in the jamb.

"How is she doing?" Kaidan asked.

"Fine, fine. There was a small incident when we got back to her cell, but it was dealt with quickly." The lawyer spoke in a hushed whisper.

"What incident?" Kaidan asked. His voice became louder from concern.

_I was just thinking the same thing._

"They tossed her cell at Ambassador Udina's request." The lawyer answered.

"Son of a bitch." Kaidan spat. "Well, how did she handle that?"

"As well as could be expected, considering the circumstances." He answered back.

There was a long silence between the two men. Garrus continued to eavesdrop from his perch, hoping that they'd drop what details he'd been asking about since he'd seen Shepard.

"So what are you doing here?" Kaidan finally asked.

"I told Nevara I'd come and see you. She was getting her check-up. I checked on a few things before I got here." The lawyer spoke again. He trailed off and his voice was almost inaudible to Garrus from where he was standing.

"So what the hell happened? How the hell did I get into this situation?" Kaidan asked, his agitation was felt wholly by Garrus who had been pondering the same thing through the trial after the realization of Nevara as the assassin.

"I don't know. You weren't even supposed to be charged. Nevara's deal was-" The lawyer spoke, dreading the repetitiveness of his answers.

"Life in prison. I got that. What happened with that?" Kaidan interrogated.

"It was the attack on the guards." The lawyer answered.

Another long silence filled the two cells again. Garrus knew nothing about an attack or the guards being involved. If Nevara was involved it couldn't have been good, but he wanted to prove himself wrong; just to have that little bit of hope for her. Garrus continued listening for a few more moments trying to get a clue as to the change in heart by the Council and Nevara's beloved Systems Alliance, but got nothing.

He sat on his bunk, propped up against the wall, waiting for time to pass so that he could get his hands on her. Shake her until she fell apart. Such hateful, spiteful thoughts clouded his mind. The once happy, blissful fantasies were pushed aside and replaced by morbid, cruel thoughts that made his heart sank. So many things that he wanted to say to her, others he would of liked to have done to her. He mourned the woman, her death was a lie. She started the war, but acted like just another soldier, completely innocent of her actions that started the predicament.

He was pissed at Nevara and her hypocrisy. She had not right to judge him for following his orders. If she hadn't followed her's, the whole mess wouldn't of happened in the first place. He wouldn't have been called back to active duty. He would have been safe and comfortable in his completely tedious C-Sec job on the Citadel.

"Vakarian. You have a visitor." A voice came from the other side of the door. It was different from the other guards that had come to announce themselves during shift change or to harass him

"Great. Just what I need." Garrus grumbled under his breath as he adjusted himself. He watched as the door opened just enough for the svelte man to walk in. His uniform was the same class A's that Kaidan had wore earlier. Behind him followed a guard, in the blue Alliance uniforms that the guards all donned. Garrus glared at the man for a moment, making sure his intentions were clear with a grumble.

"Garrus?" The man questioned.

"Yeah that's me." Garrus snarled, not caring who the man was.

"I'm Captain Pierce, Nevara's lawyer. We met earlier today." Pierce spoke trying to get through the pleasantries as fast as he could. "This is Captain Walker. We need to talk to you."

Garrus stared blankly at the two men for a moment and sighed in resignation. He was happier not having guests now more than ever, but whatever Code of Conduct was being broken by the oncoming conversation, mattered little to Garrus. He was already exiled.

"What do you want to talk about?" Garrus finally asked, standing up to stretch his legs. "Is this about Nevara?"

The two men looked at each other and then back at Garrus. Captain Pierce cleared his throat and nodded.

"It is." Captain Pierce answered. "We just wanted to talk to you for a moment. That's all. This is at Kaidan Alenko's request."

"Oh great." Garrus grumbled. He turned his back to the pair and rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes. "What does he want you to tell me?"

"Garrus. This is a difficult position, I'm sure, but there are some things you need to know." Pierce spoke, driving home the point of the datapad he held close to his chest.

"What could I possibly need to know about her now? Is she apologizing?" Garrus spat. His anger grew with each word.

"We honestly don't know how much you know about the current situation." Walker finally spoke. His broad shoulders became lax when the turian looked at him.

"I know enough." Garrus murmured.

Pierce took a step closer, confused by the comment. "What do you know?"

"There was a plea agreement that wasn't accepted and Nevara attacked a guard. Which isn't shocking to be honest." Garrus spoke as if all the pieces of his condemnation had come into focus.

Pierce looked at Walker for a moment and shook his head. "That's more than I thought you knew, but okay. That'll at least give us a starting point." He sat on the bunk and pushed a button on the datapad. He looked at Walker again and handed the pad to Garrus.

"What's this?" Garrus asked, without looking at it.

"It's my report of the attack the guards." Walker answered before Pierce could open his mouth.

Garrus slowly read the document. He tried hard to concentrate on Nevara's role in the attack. The document went on for pages. When he finished with the initial findings he looked at Walker and took pause of the giant staring at him.

"_She_ was attacked?" Garrus asked.

"She was. But there were enough witnesses to show discrepancies in her story. Four guards went in, two had to be taken out, one didn't make it and the other barely got out in time to call for reinforcements." Walker continued.

"What does that have to do with me?" Garrus asked. "I didn't send them in there."

"According to other accounts, it wasn't the first time those guards went in there. There had been other times with those four and three other guards." Pierce said. He looked at the datapad in Garrus' hands and stopped.

Garrus looked at the two men for a long moment as he gathered his thoughts. His minds raced, jumping from solicitation to other places he didn't want to admit to himself. It couldn't be possible for Alliance guards to do to their prisoners like he thought that they would.

"Let me guess then. She killed a guard and got screwed." Garrus finally snapped tossing the datapad at Pierce. Pierce dodged it and it hit the floor.

"That's not all, Garrus." Pierce went on to continue. "Life in prison for both of you. It would be in solitary confinement, but you would live. This information wasn't even supposed to get out. It was supposed to stay with the Alliance and be dealt with accordingly." Pierce stood to collect the document and placed it on the rack.

"You have a leak in your department then. You wouldn't be the first to have one of those." Garrus snarled, not caring about the story of his fractured life.

"She cares about you Garrus." Walker jumped in.

"If she did, I wouldn't be sitting here." Garrus snapped back at the imposing human. "I would have turned her in gladly. Cleared my name and be done with everything."

"You really think you could do that?" Pierce asked, glaring at the raving turian.

"I-I don't know." Garrus stammered, trying to regain his composure. He looked at Pierce, his heart heavy and he sighed. "How is she really?"

Pierce's eyes grew wide and then resumed their normal formation. "She's alright." He finally answered. He walked to the door to leave and stopped. "She's in solitary confinement now. Walker here is her day guard and has spent a lot of time with her. He can tell you more." Pierce spoke opening the door and leaving the two men alone.

Garrus looked at the floor, ashamed for not knowing what Nevara was going through. It wasn't an easy game to play with her either. She was doing what she had to to survive.

Walker took a step towards the door to leave when the all encompassing void was felt in the cell.

"Wait." Garrus finally spouted. He took a step to the guard and stopped. "Did she get moved to solitary after she killed the guard?"

"Yes, she did." Walker answered, knowing all too well where the questioning was probably heading.

"Did she speak of us?" Garrus implored, half hoping that the answer was yes.

Walker nodded slowly and looked at his watch. "I have to get back to her, just read the rest of the report and do a little soul searching. She's going to need you now more than ever once we get there."

"What do you mean 'we'?" Garrus asked, taken aback by the sincerity in the human's voice.

"I'll be traveling with all the convicts to Akuze." Walker stated. He pointed to the datapad with a frown. "Just read it and you'll understand." He continued out of the cell locking the door behind him. Garrus listened as the heavy boots thudded away from him.

He turned to the datapad, which had a hairline crack across the screen it. He picked it up and turned it back on.

"They make it sound like all the answers to universe are here." Garrus muttered to himself.

He read over the many pages of witness statements, victims statements and forensic statements. Nevara's accounting of events were one of the last. It detailed several occasions where in her words she'd lost a 'bet' and the guards would come in to make a wager against her.

_A bet?_

The death of the guard was self-defense, in Garrus' eyes; but to the investigators that took the report had already deemed the event as a homicide. They had passed judgment from the way they wrote, long before the evidence was even in the lab. Garrus scowled at the ineptitude or outright blatant condemnation of Nevara for their own reasons.

He clicked the button again and a doctor's report came up:

_It is the finding of one Dr. Vamshi Niral, head prison doctor, that her patient Nevara A. Shepard is indeed with child at the present time. Supplementary scans approximate the age at about six weeks incubation. Given the physical trauma endured upon the patient, that this by no means a planned pregnancy. Paternity tests will be given to all guards involved in her assault._

_As for previous traumas, one gunshot wound in particular, could cause difficulty with the viability of the fetus at the approximate gestational age of six months. I have confirmed with a neonatalogist that this patient should be restricted to rest and any strenuous tasks should be halted by the third trimester._

Garrus stopped and reread the report over and over again till he could verbatim announce the report to himself with his eyes closed. His mind couldn't make sense of it. The wording in itself eluded him in those painful moments. He put the pad down and laid back on the bed as if to sort out what problems were flowing in his subconscious.

He couldn't take it anymore. His body ached as he fought himself from trying to look at the datapad again. His psyche wavered as he picked up the datapad and clicked the last document. Pictures or sonograms of the little grain of rice on the screen. Garrus' heart sank in that instant. He ran his finger across the picture and sighed.

_She's pregnant. Is this what they didn't want to tell me?_

He was wracked by fear in an instant. Tomorrow they were to leave, there would be no doctors, no help no nothing. They would be stranded on a planet where any day could be their last. How she was going to endure the stress of space travel or the initial confrontations with her past he couldn't understand.

If the Council knew she was pregnant, why didn't they just honor the plea agreement? It left a pit in his stomach. Somebody wanted them dead, regardless of her situation. Pierce was right, there was more going on, than Garrus even knew. His hands were tied. If he had the chance though, he'd fix it and make things right for Nevara as soon as he could; starting with tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

The day of reckoning was at hand as Garrus stood waiting for the inevitable march of guards footsteps and that dreaded pounding at his cage door. His exhaustion replaced by an eerie excitement of the possibility of finally being out of the four by six cell. The price: exile and more than likely death on a godforsaken spit of a planet. Mentally degraded and physically hopped up on adenaline, Garrus paced for a moment, his thoughts flashed of the reports that he'd read repeatedly. How the hell any of them were going to survive on Akuze with Shepard pregnant as she was, was a question that quashed any standard rational answer.

His hands shook slightly as he rubbed his eyes. They grew bleary and out of focus and burned greatly as he situated himself for the death walk. What would his family think? They didn't bother seeing him or letting him know that they were thinking about him. He was already ostracized. Even though the relationship between his father and him were strained, to put it modestly, the least he could have done was apologize or gotten the chance to do so.

_They won't even know I'm dead._

Finally the sound came, the consistent banging of boots on metal neared. He couldn't tell how many were coming, but if it was time to go, then it was also Kaidan's time as well. The thought had given him little solace though. Whatever begrudging thoughts he'd had about Kaidan were replaced by the realization that he was going to have to work with him if they even stood a chance of surviving. Nihlus, though seemed the bigger threat to the party. Even though he was easily outnumbered, Nihlus wasn't a pushover.

Garrus looked towards the door awaiting the final crescendo to the inevitable, but he was bypassed to the cell next to his. Kaidan's to be precise. He shook his head at his ignorance and sat. His turn would be soon, and again they would be marched passed the hordes of reporters, asked millions of questions and then they would all be confined to small quarters with nothing but each other's company till planet fall.

Kaidan's cell door screeched open in its sickeningly metallic whine. The muffled talk coming from in slightly reverberated into Garrus' cell. Chains rattling and orders being bellowed made Garrus' stomach turn in a nauseating fashion. He knew that the guards meant business, but the rudeness at which they addressed the former lieutenant was an ill omen for him. If they were going to be cold to Kaidan, then they certainly weren't going to give a shit about the turian exile in the next hold. For all he knew they were going to rough him up in a farewell ceremony and just chalk it up to a combative prisoner, like so many times before.

Again, the shriek of metal of the door closing and the thundering steps and rattling chains crossed Garrus' doorway and continued on. There was no talking amongst the party as they passed, but the yelling that emanated from the other cellmates as they passed, distinguished the true quickness at which they were traveling. The guards obviously just wanted to be done with the prisoners and fall back into the normal routines of the never ending boredom of solitary confinement.

When all grew silent again, Garrus relaxed for a moment taking in the last few moments of his scant existence. Exile was as good as dead and dead was what probably awaited him. Surely they weren't just going to throw them to the maws and say good luck, but all things pointed to one big fuck you and a laugh. Even Nevara didn't like the idea of Akuze, that was obvious. Yet, she put the brave face on and shrugged it off the best she could. There wasn't much that could be done after judgment was passed and on top of everything else, she seemed the one to be in the most trouble of them all.

He had no idea how a woman, with a child was going to survive. Especially given what the doctor had written in her report about stress and what not. The whole duration of spaceflight on top of their boots hitting dirt was going to be a stress factor of at least ten. The once strong soldier now the weakest link to the group.

There was so much for Garrus to think about, this was true. Many questions that were yet to be answered by her, Anderson and especially Kaidan. Some though, would have to be asked later, but there was still so much left for him to figure out for himself and Nevara. He had to know, like Captain Pierce, who the hell did the irreparable damage to her plea.

_Bang!_

Garrus shot up and glared at the door. He didn't know how much time had passed since Kaidan had passed, but in his gut, he knew his time had come and he was now regretting facing the music. He sighed and stood, knowing that the guards were going to file in one by one and send him to his death with glad hearts. He stood with his back to the door and waited. The same symphonic noise drowned out the now onslaught of yells coming from his neighbor.

He slowly inhaled and from the scent that was emitted from the men, that oddly musky smell of sweat and overbearing cologne, he knew that there were at least two of them. The familiar sound of metal being dragged into the room, meant all too well that they were ready for him.

"Arms up, Vakarian." One man spoke. His accent thick and his demeanor without even looking was one of disdain.

Garrus obliged with no fight. He didn't want to cause trouble; he just wanted to be away from his multitude of attackers. The cold links finally slid across his waist and were synched tightly. More tightly than usual, causing Garrus to grimace. He could feel the tiny bards digging into his clothes and nicking his skin like razor blades.

When he heard the click of the lock at his back, he slowly lowered his arms in anticipation of being cuffed. It was what they did, always. Each clasp locked into place, and the clicking and snapping sounded like a chuckle to him. Even his restraints mocked him. Hands were felt in a hurried fashion as the final locks were placed and a firm grip clamped onto his arm. He turned and faced the guard for a moment and awaited final retribution.

The guard looked him over and nodded to the other guard at his side. There was no abuse just the fascinatingly silent communication that his eyes told. He was happy. He didn't have to do anything. There was no point in wasting his energy on Garrus any longer.

It was all too familiar for Garrus, the look. He had the same look once before. He himself had a penchant for roughing up a suspect or two that had been difficult to interrogate, but as he realized later on, you get nothing and end up weaker than the man taking the beating. The fear put into a person about being accosted was usually enough to get a person to talk. It was a sick way to question someone, but it got the job done a hell of a lot better than slamming them into a wall so that they'd confess.

They both stood for a moment longer with nary a word to say to each other. That was fine for Garrus. He had nothing to say to the man who had instigated many a fight with him. The other guard shoved Garrus out of the cell. He hit the rail at his hip and it sent a shock wave of pain down his leg. Garrus grumbled to himself, trying to maintain as passive to their attempts to break him for the final time as he could.

They walked quickly down the catwalk at a steady clip. Garrus kept his head held high, he wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing that he was broken in many places. He watched as Captain Anderson fell into line ahead of them. His guards though, seemed to be a bit more respectful with how they handled him. Their faces were softer and not so rigid in how they responded to him. They looked almost sad to see a great war hero being sent off to meet a horrible fate.

It was unfathomable, to even Garrus that Anderson was now a fall guy for the so-called resistance. Whoever had screwed him, had obviously done a bang up job in implicating Anderson as well. The thought was moot though. They probably would never find out who actually worked behind the scenes. The one who set them all up to fail. It wasn't Nevara, as everyone thought, but someone else. Someone worked very well behind the scenes and made sure that they got what they wanted regardless of who was going to fall in the end. Someone had it out for them, of that he was certain.

The randomness of Garrus' thoughts, coupled with his insomnia was dizzying. He hadn't even realized, that they'd cleared the cell block when they came to a stop near a door that lead towards a very long corridor. The same corridor that he'd been marched down the day before. His group had met up with Anderson's and the guards were grumbling to each other for a moment.

Garrus looked over at Anderson. The man stood just as proudly as Garrus was feinting. Nothing bothered him from what he could tell and if Anderson was faking he was really damn good at it. Anderson turned to Garrus and faintly smiled. His eyes were tired and matched even Kaidan's from the day before. There was no sleep to be had by anyone till they were settled aboard their transport. Garrus looked around him, noticing that the guards had walked off to another guard by the door and were discussing when to go.

"So, she's pregnant." Garrus whispered, trying not to sound too contemptuous.

Anderson's smile melted away in an instant. His eyebrow furrowed in a questioning response, slightly shocked by the statement.

"Her lawyer came to see me." Garrus stated as he looked back at the guards.

"She is." Anderson finally acknowledged.

"Is that what you didn't want me to know about?" Garrus asked.

"It is." Anderson confirmed, slightly relaxing.

"Why didn't you want to tell me? How come I was supposed to be left in the dark?" Garrus finally snapped.

Captain Anderson gathered his thoughts, trying to really justify their reasons for not telling him. There was no good answer for it.

"It was at her request and the request of her lawyer." Anderson answered.

"Shut up!" The guard yelled back to them. "You two don't need to be speaking to each other."  
The four guards resumed their positions at the convicts' sides and started to lead them towards the never ending hallway. The clacking of footsteps and shuffling of chains filled the air. The lights were horrendously bright and just seemed to radiate from nowhere. Garrus blinked a few times. It almost felt like staring at the sun for a few moments. Every time he'd blink the blinding light dried out his eyes and the cycle would begin again.

When they reached the end of the corridor the double doors were pulled open and there stood the mass of reporters that Garrus had dreaded. They weren't alone though, the haters and screamers of the public stood behind them, held back by a line of C-Sec officers and military police.

It was a cacophony of sound and it was overwhelming to the senses. The slanderous yells that were thrown at the pair was loud enough to make Garrus feel like his ears were bleeding.

"Mr. Vakarian. How do you think you will do once you get to Akuze?" A reporter asked, trying to jump over another man asking questions to Anderson.

The two said nothing but stared blankly at the sideshow that they had become.

"Captain Anderson, how do you feel about the fact that former Commander Shepard was the one that started the war?" Another reporter yelled.

Garrus scowled and saw Kaidan further down the row, dodging questions with his head held low. He looked over the faces of the people and their incessant ravings for that of his family. They weren't there, they couldn't be. There was so much shame that he'd brought to them by what had happened, that there was no point in even making the trip from Palaven to see him one last time.

His heart sank at the coldness of his family. Even if they hated him for his actions, they could have at least been there to ridicule him one last time to his face. It was a sickening thought, a masochistic thought that pained him.

A quick tug told Garrus that it was time to go and to keep their mouths shut. They couldn't do much more damage than what was already done, but he agreed with them all the same. What could he possibly say to make the situation any better. Screaming innocence was just going to make the riotous mob all the more chaotic. He turned quickly and continued marching in tandem with his guards. His pace quickened as he saw the opened airlock and the perfect escape plan evaded him. He glanced behind him, half expecting to see the woman of the hour behind him, but she wasn't there.

_Where is she?_

He pressed on trying to ignore the hate that was being spewed on all sides of him. It seeped into him and ate at his soul. What little of one he had left. The man was empty and no amount of self-reassurance was going to break him from that thought. He had been betrayed one too many times to try and make sense of how the humans had screwed him and themselves.

As they neared the airlock to the ship, a familiar voice cut the din like a knife. Garrus looked to his left and his resolve shattered. There stood his dad and sister looking at him. The pain in their eyes, pierced him in the worst possible way. He was wrong. They had shown up to send him off. He frowned and slowly waved his farewell to the pair. He couldn't say anything to them.

He hadn't seen them in almost two years. Yet, they looked almost the same way they did before. The air around him grew cold as he entered the docking area. It was a sterile smell and the faces of his family were cut short by the corner that severed what life once was, to the life that was already drawn up for him in the most unimaginable way.

"Bye Dad! Bye Solona! I'm sorry!" Garrus finally yelled, before being yanked inside by Walker. Anderson followed suit within seconds.

Walker scanned the two men with his omni-tool and resumed the staunch pose that all the other guards carried when in the presence of inmates.

"You sure you want to do this Walker?" Garrus' guard asked the stoic giant.

"I'm sure. Unshackle them so we can get this underway." Walker spat, annoyed that he was being questioned for his choices.

The guards unbound the couple of exiles and left the charges to the man who was glaring at the four guards for being an apparent pain in his ass. Garrus looked passed the man and sighed at the group that had taken their places in the few seats that were available. Winters looked up at Garrus with scared eyes from his seat and frowned. He stood and saluted Captain Anderson, trying to shake off the obvious fear of the inevitable. Garrus walked passed, Walker and Winters and spied everyone else. All the familiar faces from Aeia: Tennant, Marsters, Alenko, Liliandaz.

_Liliandaz?_

"What are you doing here?" Garrus asked, shocked by the turian sitting at the back.

"You thought I was going to let you go it alone with Nihlus biting at your heels?" Liliandaz snapped in a jovial tone.

"I thought you took a deal for immunity. You could have gone back to your old life. What happened?" Garrus asked. His confusion overtook him.

"I dunno. I didn't think it was fair how they were going to railroad you." Liliandaz answered.

Kaidan looked towards the back of the ship and stood. He looked perplexed for a moment and turned to Anderson.

"Where's Shepard?" Kaidan asked as he started to make his way towards the back of the kowloon class ship.

"She's at the back." Nihlus grumbled. "She was here when I got here."

"We brought her here last night to avoid the media spectacle. She's probably with Pierce." Walker explained following Kaidan.

"Why's he coming?" Garrus asked.

"What do you mean she's _with_ him?" Nihlus prodded with his venomous tone. Walker didn't answer. He just kept moving. When he went passed Nihlus, he shot him a disgusted look and kept going.

A few minutes went by and Walker and Kaidan hadn't returned. Garrus sighed in frustration. His curiosity at the situation beckoned him to investigate the cause of the disturbance.

He stood interrupting Liliandaz's comments and meandered towards the back of the ship. He rounded a corner and saw Pierce, Kaidan, Walker and a woman standing near the latrine. The inalienable sound of retching and dry heaving greeted Garrus as he neared. The four stood silently awaiting Nevara's appearance.

"Is she alright?" Garrus asked. It shocked all of them and they turned quickly on him.

"She's fine." The woman answered in a matter of fact tone.

"If that's him, I don't want him to see me like this." The muffled sound of Shepard's voice came from the other side of the door, followed by more vomiting.

"She's just sick." Kaidan spoke.

"Sick? Did she eat something she wasn't supposed to?" Garrus questioned as he came up to the door, ignoring Nevara's pleading for him to go away.

Walker and Kaidan looked at each other with an awkward stare. Garrus felt like an instant fool. He had no idea why they were looking at each other in that way. Was it his question, or was it the fact that he was still there even after Shepard asked him to leave.

"Morning sickness." The woman finally snapped as she waved the turian away.

The phrase had no meaning to him. Who gets sick in the mornings?

"It's hormones. She should be fine in a little bit." The woman responded to Garrus' confused looked.

"Is he still there?" Nevara asked. She moaned for a moment and swore as she choked.

"I'm still here." Garrus answered, not swayed by the obvious discomfort of her display of low constitution.

"Fuck. What do you want? I don't need an audience. I've been telling them to leave me alone too." Nevara yelled.

"We were just checking to see if you were okay." Kaidan asked placing his hand on the door.

"I'm fine. Go away." Nevara urged.

"I'll give her something for the nausea after she comes out. It'll make her sleepy, but she should be fine after a nap and something to eat." The woman said trying to reassure the men.

"Come on." Pierce stated as he made his way back towards the front.

Walker and Kaidan followed, each one looking at Garrus for a moment. He wasn't going anywhere no matter what they try to tell him.

"You're her doctor?" Garrus asked as he neared the door.

"I am." The woman answered.

"Are you coming with us?" Garrus questioned.

"I am. Please, just go." She answered quickly.

"It's alright." Nevara finally answered as she emerged. She was pale and her eyes were traced with purple splotches. She looked at Garrus for a moment and smiled with a sigh. "Good to see you, Vakarian." She spoke in a raspy voice.

"It's not like I have any place else to go." Garrus grumbled.

Nevara's smile disappeared. Her personality went from weak to spiteful. If he was going to keep throwing it in her face every chance he got, it was going to be a very long trip for her. She swallowed her pride and nodded.

"I don't have any place else to go either." Nevara agreed.

"Are you ready for your meds?" The doctor asked, readying the syringe.

Nevara nodded again and stared at Garrus while being injected with the purple serum.

"Go lie down. I'll come and see you in an hour." The doctor ordered sending Nevara off to the sleeping area.

Garrus watched as Nevara stumbled to her bed and flopped onto it. He stood a moment watching her curl into a ball and taking in the all too familiar smell of her as she passed him.

He walked back towards the sitting area away from everyone in a location where he could watch Nevara while he slept. He looked over at Nihlus, who hadn't taken his eyes off of him since he sat down and glared.

"Alright folks one way stop Akuze." A voice came over the PA with a dapper tone.

_One way stop Akuze. _ _ The land of thresher maws and being damn sure you can run for your life._


End file.
